A huff and a puff

A 45-minute meeting between top referee Bill Harrigan and NRL chief executive David Gallop yesterday ended in the controversial whistleblower announcing his retirement.

Harrigan had sought permission to appear on Saturday's sports show on radio station 2SM.

The man nicknamed Tom Cruise has always fancied himself as a media performer but has been frustrated by NRL policy forbidding game-day officials from appearing in forums at which they could be asked to comment on games.

Gallop, who called the NRL referees coach, Robert Finch, and the director of media and communications, John Brady, to the 11am meeting, reiterated the policy but massaged Harrigan's considerable ego by informing him they wanted him to referee for a further three years.

Harrigan then adjourned with manager Martin Tauber, who argued that, at age 44, Harrigan's on-field effectiveness would decline and media opportunities dry up.

Pointing in the direction of Gallop's office at NRL headquarters, Harrigan then said: "Let's go back upstairs."

He informed the NRL of his instant retirement, aware he had been appointed to the second Test between Australia and Great Britain on November 15 at Hull.

Harrigan's third wife, Leslie, is pregnant and he was involved in a settlement dispute with his second wife.

Harrigan, who refereed 10 grand finals, will be remembered as the best of the modern era. Like many top refs of other decades, he made incorrect decisions but, unlike some, he could never be accused of cheating. His former boss, Mick Stone, was also scrupulously honest but did not have the speed and agility of Harrigan.

He was the master of the "square up", ensuring that if he was guilty of a poor ruling, he would make amends with a favourable decision later in the game. It was therefore rare for a Harrigan decision to unjustly determine the outcome of a game.

This is not to say Harrigan abided by the credo referees should be almost invisible.

His ego, approximately the size of King Island, always made him want to be considered a contributor to a glorious contest.

His awarding of just three penalties in this year's grand final was hailed as a factor in a first-class game.

Occasionally, his "lover boy" image marked him down. When Harrigan began courting Leslie, NSW officials were convinced he spent too much of the game looking in her direction in the Lang Park grand stand, thereby ignoring the other side of the ruck.

However, he was dropped because his minimal-penalty approach was exploited by Blues prop Glenn Lazarus, who ignored Harrigan's repeated instructions to retire 10 metres.

Referees had only recently been wired for sound but Harrigan bounced back, embracing the electronic age, even acting as video referee some days.

Fans wired to his on-field remarks appreciated his wit as much as the players.

When St George Illawarra hooker Mark Riddell huffed his way down field, Harrigan - who believes every word in the paper except those about himself - said: "I thought I read somewhere that you'd lost weight."

When the Warriors' Mark Tookey was knocked out, Harrigan assessed his degree of consciousness by asking the car-loving prop: "What's the colour of your Mini?"

Players respected Harrigan and knew they could not intimidate him. However, he spent the past 18 months feuding with the NRL, despite Gallop's expression of confidence in him yesterday.

His biography, launched two days after the grand final, was critical of Gallop's deputy, Graham Annesley.

Harrigan had hoped to oversee the Australia-New Zealand Test in Auckland this month and use the airfare to promote his book in the Shaky Isles. It wasn't to be.